How to Get Through The Tough Times The Old Style Way.

jumblejack

GreyQueen wrote: »

Well, last night's veggie chili, my first adventure into t.v.p mince, was a truimph. It was rich and glossy and in no way inferior to beef mince chili, my normal style. Thanks to those who sent cooking tips.

I had a revelation this morning. I'd spent £1.32 at the health food shop on 500g of t.v.p whereas I normally spenf £1.45 at the butcher on 500g beef mince. The difference is, I have cooked a huge pot of chili, fed us and have loads left over and I still have more than half the t.v.p mince left in the cupboard. :idea: So, bearing in mind that I definately overdid the soya mince, I could get 3-4 pots of veg chili for the price of once pot of beef chili !

It's a happy thought.
....:rotfl:

Hi

What is TVP please? Also, may I ask what your recipe was as it seems like an amazingly cheap alternative!
Thanks so much for sharing the tip!

zarazara

TVP is textured vegetable protein. comes in bags looks like dried mince has the texture and taste of soggy cardboard. I'll eat most things but I cannot stomach TVP. Needs spices eg curry to make it even slightly edible IMO.

JIL

Some years ago I did a vegetarian cookery course at the local tec and we used TVP there. Our tutor who was a chef advised us to fry off the TVP with chopped onions before adding any liquid. He said it took away the powdery bittery taste. He also had us frying off the tomato puree in the same way as well. I did not really like the TVP anyway so am not sure if it did make it taste better, but to this day I still fry off my tomato puree in with my onions as it really does take away the bitter taste of some tomato purees.

susyrosy

jediteacher wrote: »

...
On a more positive note I did the weekly shopping using the guide on the Tesco/Asda thread and from a £35.85 shop I have got a voucher for £35.56 so that can pay for the next shop.

Excuse me - where is this thread and how on earth can you get a voucher for virtually the same amount as you spent ie FREE shopping?? This sounds amazing, and I think I read something similar elsewhere on this site today ..

TIA

jumblejack

Is TVP like Quorn or soya mince? Apologies yet again for my ignorance!

If not, which is the best meat alternative (to fool my houseful of carnivorous males!)?

shegar

jediteacher wrote: »

Well good news and bad news about the car. After waiting all day for the garage to ring to let me know what was going on I rang them to be informed that their MOT tester is off sick and they could not do my MOT!:mad: They obviously knew this, this morning so why they didn't call me to let me know is beyond me. Wouldn't have minded as much if they had let me know so the car has to be in for another day which means another day of borrowing my husbands car to take my daughter into nursery. This means hubby will have to catch the bus which is more expensive than driving to work so we are out of pocket there too! The garage is too far for me to walk to and I cannot get a bus due to barely being able to move due to the SPD! The good news is that the centre was going to charge me £175 but I have said I was quoted £135 and will not pay a penny more especially as they have mucked me around. They have agreed to this and thrown in some other checks that would have cost me another £90 (air-con etc). Will check to make sure that they have done the checks tomorrow. Not a happy bunny at all.

Right need to wake up my daughter to go and collect hubby from work. :cool:

I agree thats really not fair, they knew by 8 this morn that their MOT tester wasnt coming in, a call would have been nice for you..........:mad:
Also it will be hard for you to know if they have really done extra work for you, get hubby to check for you, its easy for a garage to make it look as if they are doing you a favour, but I dont trust people that I havent dealt with before.......unless they always work on your car for you...........

ive got the same garage ive had for years,they do all the families cars.........ive got to have 3 new tyres on wednesday, i reckon it will cost £220 ish........got to have good thread though, and they are only just legal right now, so I cant put it off .........:mad:

newlywed

Hi all,

OH is self employed but has had no work for weeks and nothing in the pipeline either

That means we need to find £200 a month extra from somewhere!! The obvious place we could cut down is the grocery budget - I usually spend £400-£450 a month for the four of us - cleaning products, loo roll and all magazines and extra bits and pieces included.

So I tried to read this thread but to be honest it's too much.

Am very interested in the tvp - can anyone tell me what the salt content of it is please? I already stretch mince with lentils and oats and although OH loves his meat he is ok with Cauldron sausages, so might be able to convince him?

I cook mostly from scratch (other than Bisto and the odd jar of curry sauce) and we are currently trying to reduce salt intake as well.

We're using the car much less, and instead of going by bus, I've been walking each day - both ways (2 miles each way).

I use Aldi and Lidl from time to time as one is near work and one near home, but as I work full time I often tend to order a sainsbug shop about 3 times a month. There's also a small morrisons near work. Lugging food shopping for 4 of us 2 miles home doesn't really appeal

We eat hm soups for lunch during the week.

I use quite a few sainsbug basics range. Does anyone have any other tips or suggestions? Or recipe links? Going veggie is pushing it but TVP might be acceptable to OH.

Pitlanepiglet

Hi Newlywed, you might want to find the Grocery Challenge thread that is stickied at the top of the OS forum, there is a huuuuugeee recipe index and lots of really helpful folks who can help you to find ways of getting your grocery spend down? I haven't done it for ages but I did find it really useful when I was first cutting my spending down. Good luck! x

modern_millie_2

Hi newlywed, not sure of the salt content but I suspect it's quite low as I usually add Marmite or soy sauce to give flavour (these are both quite salty). Guess you could use more herbs or spices if you are watching the salt.
GQ, glad to hear your chilli went down well.
Newlywed, just remembered I think Sains...y have an own brand veggie mince.

jediteacher

susyrosy wrote: »

Excuse me - where is this thread and how on earth can you get a voucher for virtually the same amount as you spent ie FREE shopping?? This sounds amazing, and I think I read something similar elsewhere on this site today ..

TIA

Sorry, do not know how to post links. If you go to the forums and then to the Grabbit section it is one of the first threads on there. The first few posts explain how this works. It is all part of Tesco's new policy that they will double the difference of any shop that is cheaper in Asda so I bought items I would use but they were branded (birdseye etc) and the difference was £17ish so Tesco double this and I get a voucher for £34. Hope this makes sense.